As EU public procurement legislation sets out the framework for public contracts it is of course highly relevant to engineers in Europe. As representative organisation of Chartered Engineers in Europe, we are therefore working closely – also in cooperation with other European partner organisations – on the current reform process for the EU public procurement directives.
The Commission, Parliament, and Council work closely together in the EU legislative process: The reform proposal is drawn up by the European Commission in accordance with the EU Constitution. In the legislative process, the Council of the EU, in which the national ministries are represented, and the European Parliament then decide jointly. We are involved in this process at both national and European level.
The Commission’s proposal for procurement reform is expected in the first half of 2026, but preparatory work is already in full swing. Within the European professional associations, we have been preparing for this process since 2022 by developing and coordinating our arguments and collecting relevant data .
At Commission level
Even though the European Commission’s reform proposal is not expected until the first half of 2026, important steps have already been taken:
In March 2025, the European Commission conducted a public consultation process in which the ECEC has advocated, among other things, for the mandatory establishment of the best bidder principle in the awarding of intellectual services and better access to public contracts for small and young offices. For this statement, positions were coordinated with the ECEC member organisations (see enclosed again)
Because major challenges are best tackled together, the Luxembourg Declaration, a joint declaration by the European associations for engineers was adopted in May 2025 on this basis at the OAI conference in Luxembourg. The ECEC contributed to shaping the declaration, which sends a clear signal for quality and improved conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Further European professional organizations have since joined the declaration, and all are working together to transport our positions to the Parliament, the Commission, and also at the national level to the Council.
At parliamentary level
In the legislative process, the European Parliament will decide on the Commission’s proposal together with the Council, in which the national ministries are represented.
Here, too, the preliminary work has long been underway: Since March, the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee has been working on a report on public procurement, in which the ECEC has been able to contribute our positions against price competition instead of quality competition through targeted contacts with MEPs, also in cooperation with the other signatories of the Luxembourg Declaration.
The report adopted by the committee on July 7 takes into account many of the points we raised and advocates moving away from the lowest-price principle, as well as for improving access for small and micro-enterprises to procurement procedures and for better consideration of the diversity of (intellectual) services such as engineering services. It is due to be adopted by the Parliament in plenary in September 2025 and will thus form an important basis for the Commission’s expected legislative proposal.
At Council level
The Council, in which the national ministries are represented will decide on the Commission’s proposal together with the European Parliament in the legislative procedure. Council decisions are usually negotiated in advance in working groups in which the national experts are represented. After that, the level of the so-called Committee of Permanent Representatives is involved, and in many cases, agreements are already reached at one of these levels. Therefore, the first point of contact for the ECEC member organisations at national level is the relevant department represented in the working group (ask for representative in WG COMPGRO). Once the procedure has started, it will be very important to stay in contact with them.